Team roping header Tyler Wade and his partner, heeler Cole Davison, were one spot out of the money in Rounds 1 and 5.
The three rounds in between also were fruitless.
But Tuesday night, the duo clocked a 3.9-second run to win the round and take home $26,231 apiece.
“Awesome,” Wade said. “Glad to get the ball rolling finally.”
Wade, 26, is in his second trip to Las Vegas for the $10 million rodeo.
Davison, 29, now has his first go-round win in his first trip to the Finals. Despite the drought before Round 6, Davison was feeling pressure. But he did say he needed to relax, and that worked.
“I’m not a very pressure-filled person,” Davison said. “I finally quit trying so hard tonight and just let it happen.”
Nine team roping pairs missed in the round. Wade and Davison didn’t worry about that, they were focused on their steer.
“We stay in our own lane and do our own deal,” Wade said. “We’ve been playing tag a little bit – he’s missed one, I’ve missed one. But we’re on the same page and glad to be here. We’re just going to keep roping and hopefully it will pay out.”
Team roping heading leader Clay Smith and heeling leader Paul Eaves did not miss. They added $15,654 to their bank accounts when they placed third in Round 6. Each of them has $197,127 won on the year. They each have nearly $30,000 leads on their next closest competitors.
Wade and Davison have been keeping busy with their families on the trip with them.
“Yeah, I’ve got two little girls, my wife, her parents and my parents are here,” said Davison, of Stephenville, Texas. “Everybody is out here.”
Wade has his family in town, too.
“Oh, yeah, I’ve got a kid,” said Wade, of Terrell, Texas. “We went to the dolphin habitat about nine times. We’ve also been busy signing autographs. It kind of fills up the whole day.”
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